Nation’s largest award for top teaching brings Michigan professor to Baylor

Every two years, Baylor’s Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching brings one of the nation’s best professors not already on the BU campus to Waco for a semester, allowing Baylor students to benefit from his or her excellence in the classroom. The last honoree, Dr. Edward Burger of Williams College, enjoyed his experience so much that he actually returned to Baylor for an extra year.

Earlier this month, Baylor Provost Elizabeth Davis, BBA ’84, announced that Dr. Brian Coppola, a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan, is the 2012 Cherry Award recipient. Coppola, the 2009 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for doctoral institutions, will spend the spring 2013 semester teaching in residence at Baylor.

[WATCH: Coppola’s Cherry Award finalist lecture, “The Liberal Art of Chemistry: Stories about Human Nature“]

As this year’s Cherry Award recipient, Coppola will receive a $250,000 award (generously endowed by Robert Foster Cherry, AB ’29, JD ’32) — the single largest monetary award presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching — plus an additional $25,000 for his home department at Michigan. The award underscores Baylor’s emphasis on providing its students with the best teachers possible, be they full-time professors here or guests brought in from outside the university.

Sic ’em, Dr. Coppola — and welcome to Baylor!

Previously on Baylor Proud:
* Baylor names finalists for 2012 Cherry Award (May 2011)
* Cherry Award brings one of nation’s top professors to Baylor (Jan. 2010)
* Baylor’s Cherry Award uniquely rewards great professors (Jan. 2008)